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Sermons

"THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON"
GOSPEL SCRIPTURE TEXT:
JOHN 3:16(B)

DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 17, 2008

The Word of God: "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE." -- John 3:16 (King James Version)

Prayer: "Lord, we're continuing this morning to examine the very heart of Your Word to Your people. Again, help me to present it Your way -- with love. Amen."

Message: When a television drama has several parts, especially when those parts are separated by more than a week, they always end each episode on a high point of suspense. That way, you'll be more likely to tune in for the next episode, to view the resolution of what was left hanging. The all-time example of this was the old "Dallas" TV series where watchers were left wondering "who shot J. R.?" for an entire summer -- and which produced one of the 10 most-watched-ever hours of television when the series continued the following fall.

Last Sunday, when I preached the "opening episode" of "John 3:16," the greatest Biblical drama of all time was just beginning to unfold. We considered in that message the primacy -- the "first place" -- that God rightly deserves in our lives. We marveled at the great love which best describes God's essential nature. And we began to examine how that great love of God is focused upon each and every human being, the world over -- you and me included. All this, from just the first phrase of the richest of all scripture verses: "For God so loved the world." That's a review of part one of this as-yet-unfolding, epic Biblical drama.

It was there that I stopped, leaving you, I trust, in enough "suspense" to draw you back to hear more of this grand saga -- a "real life" drama involving God, love, and the world of humanity.
This week we take up the second phrase of John 3:16: "...that He gave His only begotten Son..." Against the background of God's great love for our world, we now consider how that love was put into action -- sacrificial action -- by God.

That He gave His only begotten Son. That He gave His only begotten Son. That He gave. Intertwined with and inseparable from His loving nature is God's desire ever to give -- and give -- and keep on giving.

God begins His giving with the most basic gift -- life itself is God's first gift to each of us. Our lives are not our own; we did not create them, nor did our parents, save in the simple biological sense. Life, for every human being, is a precious gift from God.

Beyond providing us with life, God has enriched our lives with an entire planet to use, to develop, to enjoy, and to replenish. And He has further given us the abilities, the knowledge, and the desire to ever improve our use, development, enjoyment, and replenishment of the marvelous world He has provided. Our generation is the first in human history to reach even beyond this world alone -- with initial, small steps into the frontiers of the virtually infinite universe -- which, it now appears, is also one of God's gifts to us.

Inadvertently, though, God has created something of a "Frankenstein monster" though His many gifts to humanity. Instead of placing a sacred value upon God's most basic gift of life itself, men and women seem to have taken delight in constantly finding more effective ways to take life from one another. In the century we recently exited, highly-respected American General George Patton made this disturbing statement: "War is man's greatest achievement." Unfortunately, I must reluctantly acknowledge that Patton's remark is not far from the truth. Instead of using the resources and riches of the earth to benefit one another, humans have almost succeeded --and may yet succeed -- in destroying the very earth God has placed in our care. And instead of employing God-given talents and abilities to make a better world for all -- most humans, throughout history, have sought only to create comfort and pleasure for "number one," and the rest of mankind be damned!

Were not God the God of complete and total love that He is, there is little doubt that He would have -- and perhaps should have, if we employ the usual human way of reasoning -- withdrawn His great gifts from our species. Except for His great love, God could have let our kind disappear, back into the dust from which we were formed.

But God really is love, and so another way had to be found. Another gift had to be given. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." That He gave His only begotten Son. His only...Son." Instead of withdrawing His gifts of love from the strange, warped race of humans that we are, God chose to entrust us with yet one further gift; the most precious gift that even He could possibly offer.

The essence of God Himself, wrapped in vulnerable, perishable human flesh. The only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. The King James Version of the Bible terms Jesus the only "begotten" Son of God to remind us that here was not just another of God's many marvelous creations, but rather a unique, eternally existent form of God Himself. I realize that that idea might be difficult for some to grasp -- but what is not difficult to understand is this: Jesus is God's best gift to us all.
To send His only Son, knowing what might happen to Him among such twisted creatures as humans can often be! Certainly, this was God's ultimate gift to mankind. And, true to our now-established form, we twisted God's gift of His Son to us, rejecting its true purpose. Jesus came to bring life -- abundant, eternal life. But we chose to consign Him to death, death on a cross.

Once again there's no concluding remark nor an "Amen" at the end of today's sermon, because it's the middle portion of a three-part sermon miniseries. One week from today, God willing, I plan to continue and conclude this message. So I invite you to "tune in" on Sunday, August 24th -- same time, same place -- for the concluding "episode" of the greatest drama of all time -- "John 3:16."
Would you please recite the scripture aloud with me as we finish today's installment? "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE."

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